Since you’re reading this article, you already know just how sharp your adorable little puppy’s teeth have gotten. But no matter how much you enjoy playtime with them, it’s important that you learn how to stop your puppy from biting.

Allowing the behavior to continue now because they’re a puppy and “don’t know any better” or are “just playing” will only mean more bad lessons instilled as they grow older. Good news, though: teaching your puppy not to bite is simple for both you and your puppy.

Keep reading to learn how to stop puppy biting!

Let Out a Yelp

If your puppy bites, let out a ‘yelp’ like they might. Not a “stop” or “no,” but a yelp. This will be more effective as it replicates the behavior they would hear from other puppies in their litter.

It’s important that you also stop play (at least briefly) right away. Continue playing and your puppy may think that it’s all part of they game and they are okay to keep going and not stopping with the behavior. They may even get excited and start biting harder.

Doing so should let your puppy understand that when they bite, all the fun ends. Once they’ve stopped also, give them an excited praise and you are okay to continue on with playtime.

It’s also important that your dog see you as their pack leader, and not just another playmate. Find out how to be pack leader (and stop your puppy’s biting) by watching this free video, or keep reading if you’d like to learn a little more first.

Distract with Toy

Another method that works great if your puppy is biting is to distract them with a toy. What type of toy isn’t really important as long as it’s something that will hold their interest. Plush toys, KONGs, or even things like Bully Sticks are all fine.

When your puppy begins to bite at you or someone else, first slowly remove whatever they’re nipping at while simultaneously introducing their distraction. You should then leave them alone for a while with the toy.

Removing yourself for a while will keep it from being a positive experience for them that they’ll want to repeat. The toy will distract them long enough to end the biting, but keeping them alone for a bit will work to end the bad behavior altogether.

Socialize & Exercise

Your puppy doesn’t have a lot of experience around either dogs or humans, which is part of the reason they don’t know how to properly behave. But a little time spent with each will help get them to where you want.

You may want to start with just spending time exercising your puppy before moving on to socializing. Keeping your puppy tired out by playing in the backyard or inside is usually enough to keep nipping off of all but the most frequent biters’ minds.

In the meantime, continue to work with your puppy on their biting using the previous two tips (yelp and distract). Once you feel you’ve made progress there, it’s okay to slowly move on to socializing with other dogs and humans.

Never, Ever Hit or Slap

It’s important that you never hit, slap, or excessively scold your puppy when they bite. The only possible reactions you will get to this are 1) your puppy will fear you, or 2) they’ll think you’re playing and start biting harder.

And if you’re having behavioral problems like this, then ultimately your root problem is that your dog does not view you as their pack leader — as the one that is in charge. I’ve found learning this is best done by watching rather than reading.

I tried many times to write out how to be your dog’s pack leader before deciding it was better to just link the video series that explains it. Doggy Dan is one of the world’s leading dog obedience trainers and has an excellent video series where he teaches you how to put an end to issues like biting, barking, and all other misbehavior using his very easy to follow methods.

In the first video, Dan will reveal to you why the two most common methods of dog training only doom you to failure. You can watch the video now by clicking here. Follow the methods he teaches in his videos and you’ll never have to spend another second worrying about your puppy trying to bite you during playtime ever again!

Remember that until you fix this issue your puppy’s biting and other behavior issues are not going to stop. They will not simply wake up one morning a changed dog, so you need to take action now so that you and your dog can have a loving, stress-free relationship.

Now that you’ve learned more than a few ways to teach your puppy to stop biting, the only thing left to do is to put those tips into action! Make sure that you pin this in case you have any hiccups along the way and need some reminders!